Dorobek Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk w Wilnie w zakresie edycji źródeł historycznych
The Friends of Sciences Society in Vilnius and Its Accomplishments in Primary Historical Sources Editing

Author(s): Henryka Ilgiewicz
Subject(s): 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Vilnius; scholarly societies; publication of primary historical sources; Friends of Sciences Society in Vilnius
Summary/Abstract: This article offers a review of the output of the Friends of Sciences Society in Vilnius, which existed from 1908 to 1939, in terms of primary historical sources editing. During the 1908–1921 period, primary sources were published in the "Yearbook of the Friends of Sciences Society in Vilnius". The Society members selected and prepared the materials for publication themselves. They undertook this task with the purpose of presenting hitherto unknown historical sources, popularising knowledge about them and facilitating access to them for researchers and those interested in national history. However, the Society did not possess the funds to increase the number of publications in a meaningful way. The greatest achievement in the publication of primary historical sources during that time was undoubtedly the publication of newly discovered letters of Tadeusz Kościuszko. After 1922, new, much greater possibilities for publishing primary historical documents materialised when the reformed Society began working in close cooperation with the Stefan Batory University and other Polish academic institutions, and received financial support from the (Polish) Fund for National Culture. This cooperation translated into an increase of primary materials published in the academic magazine "Ateneum Wileńskie" [Vilnius Athenaeum] and in the series "Sources and Historical Materials of the Third Department of the Friends of Sciences Society in Vilnius", and it allowed for maintaining a higher editorial level of the publications. The sources most often published concerned political and military issues, the history of the Catholic Church, education with special emphasis on Vilnius University, and battles of national liberation on the lands of the former Great Duchy of Lithuania. The Society’s academic and editorial output is its lasting legacy that is still in use by researchers today.

• Details
• Contents